Soap Operas and Jelly Beans
by Ettare
Summary: Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny have been signed up for the new teen soap opera. Enter stage right: drama, passion, romance. Exit stage left: some of them aren't acting anymore. HG RH
1. TSO

Soap Operas and Jellybeans

Harry Potter is copyright of J.K. Rowling. All rights reserved.

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Hermione was having a brilliant summer so far. Well, I suppose it would be brilliant for her. She had just passed out of her sixth year at Hogwarts with top marks. Ah yes, life was sweet. 

With her being in a good mood and already having finished all of her summer homework, she sat down on the living room couch for a good spell of television zoning. This was one of the rare occasions where she would do such a thing, but being in such a stupendous mood, she allowed herself this time for relaxation.

Flipping through all the channels on the T.V. she gave up and decided to watch the next one she turned to. It turned out to be advertising something.

ALL PEOPLE INTERESTED IN JOINING US AT TSO PLEASE FILL OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW.

"_What in the world?" _Hermione thought to herself as she waited for more information to scroll onto the screen.

A woman came onto the screen instead and began to explain. "TSO is a brand new show where we take average teens and train them to be actors and actresses. This is a great opportunity for teens to see what it's like. It's just a summer project, so the kids will go back to school when it's over, but if they do well, we'll offer them a contract."

She took a deep breath before continuing, "TSO stands for teen soap operas. We'd like them to sign up in small groups so as their first acting experience, they'll be with friends. Hope to see you soon!"

Another black screen rolled by telling all people wanting to participate should either write to 293 Lyfal Drive or email them at the email address listed.

All in all, Hermione was curious and interested. As much as she hated to admit it, she had that same yearning to be up on stage just like all other teens have at one point or another in their life.

But she'd need a small group. "_Ron and Harry_," she grinned to herself imagining them acting out passionate filled scenes and posing for millions of people. Well, maybe it wasn't so bad. They would just have to learn.

"_No no NO!" _her mind suddenly screamed. She has school to think of. She had books to read!

Hermione Jane let out a sigh and leaned back into the leather couch. But it _was _very appealing. And she supposed she _did _deserve it.

Then again, she'd be stuck with _Ron _and _Harry _the whole summer. Oh no, don't get her wrong. She loved her best friends to bits. It was just they were both inevitably—guys.

Wait! She could invite Ginny! Yes, that was the solution. It would be her, Ron, Harry, and Ginny! Ginny and she had become very close over their years at Hogwarts with the many heart-to-heart chats. Everything would be perfect.

Now for the task of convincing them so; it would most likely be a formidable task, but by no means was Hermione Jane Granger a quitter. It wasn't a word in her vocabulary.

The first thing she would do was write a letter to Ginny. Ginevra Weasley was a scary young woman when she was angry and Hermione had no intentions of being the one she was angry at. So she dug through her school trunk and pulled out a piece of parchment. Scribbling furiously, she finished the letter with satisfaction. She walked happily over to her new owl and tied the letter to its leg letting it free to its destination out the window. The owl had been a reward present from her parents for her outstanding grades. This was another thing she was so happy about.

Hopping onto her bed she thought about how her parents would react if she and her friends were chosen. They were away on a second honeymoon for the next month in a half of summer. She would have to ring them if they were indeed picked.

This was also a great excuse for Harry to get his mind off of Voldemort. She inwardly made a tiny shudder. No matter how many times she told herself, "Fear of a name, only increases fear of itself," she couldn't shake off the visions of the death eaters torturing the poor muggles that owned the camp ground in her forth year. It was just something that would always be imbedded into her memory.

Somewhere along her lines of thought she must have drifted off because when she awoke there was a tapping on there bedroom window and it was dark outside. Getting up and rubbing intensely at her eyes to remove the remaining sleep, she opened the window and allowed the owl to glide in gracefully. Or it would have been graceful, had the owl been anyone but Errol.

She sighed heavily as Errol successfully knocked over her quill holder. New quills spilled onto the surface of her desk as Errol finally landed safely. The owl was really too old for making deliveries. Maybe as a birthday present, she'd get Ginny one of her own.

Her hands swooped down and untied the letter. She was anxious to hear her friend's reply. Opening the seal, she read silently to herself.

_Wotcher Hermione!_

_ Haven't heard from you yet this summer, so that letter was a blessing! Ron's driving me insane. He seems to think that I'm dating Dean. Lol. Dean did ask me out though. I haven't replied to him yet. What do you think I should do? As for the TSO thing, I think it's bloody brilliant! Sorry, for the language, but that is so cool! _

_I asked mum and she said it would be fine as long as we were safe. I also asked dad (if we're picked) if Tonks could be the auror to come with us. He said he'd ask Kingsley, but nothing's for sure yet. We'll have to weasel Ron and Harry into it somehow if we are picked, but we could always resort to blackmail!_

_Hope this letter finds you well,_

_Ginny_

That was all the consent Hermione needed. She would start the letter to TSO right now.

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I only ask one thing-Review!  



	2. Out of the Frying Pan

Cheers everyone! I really am satisfied with the plot of this fanfiction and hope everyone else is. Thanks to all who reviewed!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Chapter Two Out of the Frying Pan

_ It was well known that not long ago the Wizarding World adopted the use of muggle artifacts to better the knowledge of how they think and interact. Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards.) decided in good name that the first move to the better understanding of muggles would be the use of the Television (see page A-3 for more details). Such a device requires people to act out things on the screen. _

_This brings us to Albus Dumbledore's next move. He is in charge of a program called TSO (Teen Soap Operas). In light of this new development, he has connected all muggleborn and wizard's televisions to what he properly named the WAM Unit (Wizard and Muggleborn). WAM allows us to watch all muggle television shows and wizarding shows correspondently._

_Just three days ago was the release of the casting options for TSO. Today I am proud to announce the winners. They have not been stared in any particular roles and will need to contact Minerva McGonagall as soon as possible. The winners are the following:_

_Neville Longbottom_

_Dean Thomas_

_Gregory Goyle_

_Vincent Crabbe_

_Millicent Bulstrode _

_Seamus Finnigan_

_Lavender Brown_

_Ginevra Weasley_

_Draco Malfoy_

_Pavarti Patil_

_Blaise Zabini_

_Susan Bones_

_Elizabeth Jabel_

_Ronald Weasley_

_Hermione Granger_

_Harry Potter_

_ When this writer read Harry Potter's name on the list, she just about did a flip. This will most certainly be an interesting show and I advise us all to watch its progress. The list of Adult actors on TSO will be listed on page A-3. All in good faith._

_Linete Hornput (World Wide Witch's Top Author)_

Molly Weasley was having a splendid morning. Her two youngest children were asleep upstairs and Arthur would be down in a half an hour for his tea and a bit of toast.

She got the tea started and settled down onto a kitchen chair to read the morning's edition of WWW. Nestled down and ready to read, she came across an article on TSO. She had read about it in the past few days and it seemed interesting—especially with Albus running it.

She skimmed though the article catching phrases that jumped out at her until she came to the winners.

Moving her eyes down the list, she let out an ear slitting scream. The scream brought Arthur, Ginny, and Ron out of their sleep induced stupors and the lot of them came bounding down the stairs in fear of a death eater attack.

The three of them found her hunched ever a morning paper holding her heart and staring wide-eyed at it. She spoke in a pleasantly surprised voice that baffled them.

"Ron, Ginny-dear, why didn't you tell me about this?" She was gesturing down at the paper with a smile starting on her lips.

For her part, Ginny was quite confused as to what her mum was on about. She wondered peering over at the slips of parchment her mother was brandishing.

It was rather startling being roused in the morning by your mum screaming and there being no apparent death eater attack. She sighed and studied her brother's form in case he held any clue to as what was going on. Realizing this was completely pointless she gave up and looked to her father instead.

Her thoughts were along the lines as to never getting any important information. She supposed that was just the way it worked. She was ultimately left out of the enlightened loop.

Arthur, having as little insight as to what was really going on as the children, tried his wife. His eyebrows rose as Mrs. Weasley ran her tongue along her teeth and read the offending article out loud.

When she was finished all of them were standing in the warm kitchen in a slightly awkward silence. Ginny had a sudden look of relief on her face and a growing look of excitement, but Ron look appalled.

"Bloody h—" he started, but cut off by a scathing look from Molly. It was quite like the looks Hermione might give him when he was cursing. He visibly shuddered.

"Well, this is an excellent opportunity for you both!" Mr. Weasley cried jovially, clapping them both on the shoulders. The action shoved Ginny forward, but she only clicked her tongue and smiled.

"I only wish you had told me!" Molly had apparently been as thrilled as her husband. It was clear that both parents thought that the experience would be great for them.

"And you'll both get to work with Hermione and Harry," she shot them each a knowing look."

"But I didn't sign up!" Ron tried.

"No, Hermione signed us all up." Ginny smirked at her brother triumphantly. It was one of her favorite pastimes to embarrass her brother about Hermione. As if on queue, Ron's ears burned.

"Hermione's going to get it," he muttered under his breath, but Ginny knew the worst he would do was start another row and that didn't really matter because they wound have fought enough to make up for it anyway.

"No you won't," countered his sister. Mrs. Weasley watched her youngest bicker about Ron's best friend and crush, Hermione Granger. She was severely hoping that in a year or two she'd have a daughter-in-law and a grandchild, but you can only wish for so much. She'd have to ask Ginny exactly how far along they were later.

Mr. Weasley, who had been left out of the conversations for too long, said that perhaps someone should write Harry.

"Oh, that's right!" Ginny gasped. She had forgotten that Harry most likely didn't get World Wide Witch and if he did—well, she didn't want to think about it.

"I'll go write him," she volunteered happily. This would be probably the most interesting summer by far.

"And I'll go write Hermione," Ron said with remorse. The two bounded up the stair fighting over who wound get to use Pig.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley watched their children from their children go with wistful expressions. They were getting older and soon they'd be adults.

The whistling of the tea pot bought them from their reveries and Molly turned to finish making the tea.

"How long do you think the peace will last?" Arthur asked his wife amusedly.

"I give it a couple days," she threw over her shoulder as she took a sip of her cup and handed one to her spouse.


	3. Simmering

Brilliant chapter, if I do say so myself and I was satisfied by the time I was done. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Hope you all enjoy and keep reviewing!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter Three: Simmering

Harry awoke around midmorning to an infernal scratching against his bedroom window. Rolling over and wishing it to go away and leave him to his sleep, he let out a sigh. The scratching stopped for a moment, but was replaced with a slight banging.

Huffing irritably, Harry sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. When he opened the window a small ball of feathers whirled in and hit him square in the chest.

It seemed that when Harry had refused to let the small owl in, it had resorted to flying into the glass.

Harry rubbed the area between his eyes and attempted to get the letter from Pig. After his hand had grasped the owl and had set it down for long enough so Harry could untie the burden, he sat back on the bed with a letter adorned with very familiar hand writing. Pig gave a hoot of thanks and zoomed back out the window.

Opening it a bit happier than he had been moments before, he read the loopy print.

_Hello Harry!_

_Great news! I got to Pig first! (Ron and I were fighting over who got to use Pig and who had to use Errol.) _

_No, that wasn't the great news, but it **was** good. We're on TSO! I doubt you know what that means so I'll explain. TSO is short for Teen Soap Operas. Professor Dumbledore decided that it'd be good for muggle and wizard relations if we understood them better. So every witch and Wizard in the muggle world has a chance to own a television with wizarding shows!_

_We've been picked for TSO! The list of teenage winners is:_

_Neville Longbottom  
Dean Thomas__  
Gregory Goyle__  
Vincent Crabbe__  
Millicent Bulstrode__  
Seamus Finnigan__  
Lavender Brown__  
Ginevra Weasley__  
Draco Malfoy__  
Pavarti Patil__  
Blaise Zabini__  
Susan Bones__  
Elizabeth Jabel__  
Ronald Weasley__  
Hermione Granger__  
Harry Potter_

_Isn't it wonderful? Pack you're bags! Dad and I are coming to pick you up at noon today!_

_Love,_

_Ginny_

Harry reread the letter with something akin to horror on his face. This was a joke! It had to be! Soap Operas? Those awful things his Aunt Petunia watched every weekday from 4:00 to 6:00? No! It definitely had to be a joke. Ginny just wouldn't _do _something like that to him.

Oh wait, yes she would. She was the one who invented the pill that made you age fifty years and fed it to him on his birthday last summer. He had had foot long hairs growing out of his ears all day.

Oh hell, he'd be surprised if she _wasn't_ the one behind it. He rubbed the back of his head—making his hair stick up even more—out of frustration. She was _really _unbelievable sometimes. And he knew even if she wasn't the ring leader, by George she'd had part in it!

Speaking of George, he imagined the smirk on her face and realized she took after the trouble making twins a little too much sometimes. It was unhealthy—for him.

There was no stopping it or her now though. He knew from experience it was far less painful just to give in to the smallest Weasley. He really didn't fancy being at the end of her bat-bogey hex anytime soon.

Bringing a sort of half grimace-half grin to his face, he realized that if she sought after, she could probably make him do anything she wanted. Not that that was okay with him or anything. Aug, he really did think about Ginny too much.

What with all his cluttered Ginny filled thoughts, he forgot that they'd be coming to pick him up soon. Cursing to himself, he dragged his trunk next to his bedside table, opened the lid, and shoved every piece of content of the surface of the nightstand swiftly into the awaiting chest.

He knew Hermione would highly disapprove of his method of packing, but really didn't have the time. The clock on his dresser read 11:37 AM. He continued to pick up odd sort of clothing and winging it into his trunk carelessly.

He wondered if Hermione knew she was on the list for this TSO. Scratch that. She was probably in cahoots with Ginny, herself! And there he was thinking about Ginny again! Why was his brain against him?

Hedwig hooted from her perch reminding him not to forget her. Harry waved his hand in acknowledgement and shot the small, beat-up room a dark look. He got own on his hands and knees to lift up the loose floorboards and remove all the things he had stashed there.

Food, books, and a couple of odd misshapen socks from Dobby were skewed from their hiding place beneath the floorboards and into the chest.

When, Harry was finished he plopped back onto his bed and let out a long breath of air. The clock read 11:52 AM. Staring at the ceiling he briefly wondered whether or not he should forewarn the Dursley's about the Weasley's visit. He quickly brushed the thought aside because it would be easier if Ginny and Mr. Weasley just rang the doorbell and he left with them. The best method would be as little confrontation with the Dursley's as needed.

But, Oh Merlin, Ginny hadn't said how they were getting there! What if they had another fireplace incident? He really didn't want to think about what would happen if that were the case. It'd be catastrophic and that was enough. At least there'd be no Fred and George though.

He was saved from his thoughts of frightening situations when the doorbell rang. And rang and rang again. In fact the doorbell didn't stop ringing until he got there and swung the door open. Harry watched as Ginny attempted in vain to stop her muggle obsessed father from ringing the doorbell.

Thundering footsteps filled the hallway as Vernon (with Petunia hiding behind him) and his family came into view, enraged.

Harry winced, but said, "I'm leaving for the rest of the summer. I'll just go get my trunk!" And with that he flew up the stairs and gathered his belongings. The trunk thumped down the stairs and Harry had his Firebolt slung over his shoulder when Ginny stepped in to help him.

It seemed the Dursley's recognized Arthur Weasley and were absolutely petrified—as Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley were backed into a corner with Vernon telling Mr. Weasley they weren't welcome.

Harry shot that they were leaving now and he and Ginny hauled his things through the front door followed by Arthur who had given up trying to explain things.

When they got outside, Harry saw a blue Ford Angelina.

"Wait a minute, that car looks familiar," Harry said, scrunching his brows.

"Yeah, the centaurs finally got fed up with it roaming free through the forest and kicked it out. When Dumbledore gave it back to us, he had made improvements on it himself." Ginny replied as Arthur put Harry's belongings into the trunk.

"Oh... Does this thing still have a mind of its own?" he questioned warily. The car beeped.

Harry let out a groan. "I'll take that as a yes." He saw out of the corner of his eye, Ginny grin. She seemed to be holding back a string of laughs. Mr. Weasley got back into the car and told them to buckle up before putting the car in reverse and driving away.

"Laugh at me, will you," Harry told her. Ginny smiled and patted his hand in mock sympathy.

"There, there." But Harry wasn't paying attention to whatever she said next. The contact of her hand and his sent sparks up his spine. He felt a blush creep up his neck when he realized Ginny was no longer talking, but giving him an odd look.

"Um...sorry...I didn't catch that last bit," he said awkwardly. Ginny gave him one last look before answering.

"I said, what do you think Ron said to Hermione when mum and he went to pick her up? He was pretty upset with her the last time I saw him."

"Oh?" Harry mumbled nonchalantly. This was going to be a very long ride indeed.


	4. Simmering: Part II

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling. All rights reserved.

A/N: Ah yes, the dreaded author's note. Well, first off I'd like to apologize for taking so long to update. My fault entirely. Second, this chapter is dedicated to Ashley (who contacted me waiting patiently for the next chapter) and Bethanie (one of my very good friends). Well, I hope you're not too mad at me for taking so long and I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter Four: …Simmering

Ron and I were racing up to his room to determine who would get to use Pig and Ron was winning. He really was a git about it. I mean, he was at least a foot and a half taller than me! That makes his legs longer and running much easier. So when he was sticking his tongue out at me over his shoulder, I pushed him right into the upcoming wall!

He looked dazed for a minute before shouting obscenities about not playing fair. He's my brother; does he _actually _think I'm going to play by his rules? I think not!

He was now about four feet behind me and I had just reached his bedroom door. Wrenching it open, I shuffled over to where pig was dozing. Since Ron was right behind me, I scooped the sweet little bird up into my arms and dashed out the pigsty he calls a room and back to the safety of my own room.

It wasn't long before Ron was pounding on my door to open it up. I snickered and sat down on my bed with a piece of parchment and a loaded quill. Did he really think she was that dumb?

Pig was hopping around excitedly where she had set him down on her quilt. The mad dash for safety had obviously stirred him from his slumber and now he was thrilled at the prospect of getting to deliver a letter.

When the letter was completely written, Ginny sighed and stared at it longingly. The letter was going to Harry, whom she was a tad bit too fond of for her own liking. She'd think about it later though.

Now all she had to do was sneak downstairs and make sure everything was okay with her dad. She had said that they would come and pick Harry up at noon and she doubted her father would object, but she still wanted his permission.

So with the letter clenched firmly against her chest and Pig hooting softly from her shoulder, Ginny crept carefully out of the room darting her head both ways. She had almost made it down the stairs when she heard Ron coming around the corner.

Jumping off of the last few steps and onto the landing, she ran straight into the kitchen severely hoping her brother hadn't noticed her. Not hearing anything bounding down the stairs after her and yelling, she assumed the coast was clear.

Striding into the kitchen where her parents were having a bit of breakfast, she plopped into her normal space at the rather empty table. She missed having her brothers around. No matter how hard you tried, you were never alone. It was the hustle and bustle that made the Burrow what it was, home.

Moving away from her contemplative thoughts, Ginny cleared her throat and smiled hopefully at her father. It was his day off so she knew she had a good chance at getting him to drive her to pick up Harry.

"Daddy, would you please take me to pick up Harry in the Ford Angelina?" Ginny blinked her large brown eyes at him and slouched herself down to make her seem smaller than she already was.

Arthur Weasley faltered slightly under his daughter's gaze. She really was good at that. Setting down the Daily Prophet, he answered with a swig of his tea, "Of course dear, go get ready."

Ginny squealed in delight and bounded up the stairs yelling a thank you to balding redheaded man behind her. Arthur sighed and went back to his paper.

Molly, who was busy making a quick breakfast smiled smugly down at the frying ham. "When do you think she'll confess that she's head over heels to him?"

The father looked up with a slightly disgruntled look splashed across his face. "You mean Ginny and Harry?"

Molly glanced behind her to her husband. "Of course I mean Ginny and Harry, who did you think I was talking about?"

"Well," Mr. Weasley started, taking a sip of his tea and looking thoughtful, "you could have meant Ron and Hermione." Mrs. Weasley squeaked in delight and nodded her head, her graying red curls bouncing.

"That's true! They make such a lovely couple, those two, but I meant Harry Potter and our little Ginny."

"She's not so little anymore," Arthur grumbled quietly, getting up to help his wife set the table for four.

"Yes, but our grandchildren will be!" The look on Molly's face was stupendous with her eyes shining and a smile lighting up her eyes. Arthur laughed, seeing his wife's enthusiastic expression. He was double over with tears leaking from the corners of his eyes, gasping for breath.

"Surely, my dear," Mr. Weasley said righting himself and pecking his wife on the cheek as a loud crash was heard overhead. Shouts from Ron and Ginny floated down the stairwell. Arthur and Molly looked at the stairs with wistful expressions on both of their faces as the last of their children fought over something most likely unimportant. "Surely."


End file.
